​When I first traveled to Ukraine in March 2022, my mission wasn't rooted in religion, at least not initially. My primary concern was to draw attention to the fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the environmental catastrophe it posed. It wasn’t until I was preparing for the trip that I first heard about the Ukrainian Catholic Church. It happened during a conversation with Gene Yee, the REI salesman helping me choose a backpack. Before I knew it, I found myself praying with Fr. Yaroslav Nalysnyk at Christ the King UCC in Jamaica Plain, as he called down a guardian angel to protect me on my journey.

This 6-minute video features Christians in Lviv, Kyiv, Bucha, and Vinnytsia.

​That's how the people I interviewed for my two, soon-to-be three, films about Ukraine ended up in the project—through the Spirit’s guiding force. None of them are famous or powerful, but they all speak with a powerful voice, and the Spirit of Ukraine shines through them.

I hope their testimonies will help dispel the widespread disinformation about a supposed lack of religious freedom in Ukraine, something I’ve never witnessed. Of course, the schism within the Orthodox Church in Ukraine has a political dimension, which is a different matter altogether. Arresting spy priests is something America also dealt with during its revolution when handling Church of England clergy. In times of war, if you’re praying for the enemy or actively aiding them in non-clerical ways, ostracization and legal consequences are to be expected.

For American Christians, particularly Evangelicals, the focus seems to be on how Protestants are being treated in Ukraine. Addressing that concern is a key goal of the next film “Beyond Bucha”.

​Here's a brief description of the clips in order:

​Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Kyiv
The segment opens with a shot of the cathedral, accompanied by commentary from Fr. Roman Nebozhuk. We then see children taking communion. The church provided not just meals and shelter but also spiritual sustenance during the initial attacks on Kyiv through to today. He also briefly discusses the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO).

​German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kyiv
A quick exterior shot of the church is followed by a scene of a woman presiding over a service.

​Church of God’s Glory outside Lviv
We meet Pastor Regetsiy Oleh, who leads an Evangelical church in Kharkiv. Forced to flee to Lviv with his wife and son, he leads an online service for his dispersed congregation.

​Lviv Church of the Holy Trinity
This segment takes us to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ukraine/Reformed Church in Ukraine, where we meet Doug Shepherd, the long-time pastor originally from Texas. He leads a Bible study session with a packed group of young people and gives us a tour of the church. The segment begins with a service that will feel familiar to many viewers.

​Nursery School Mom and Teacher in Kyiv
In these interviews with a nursery school mom and teacher in Kyiv they discuss their faith and Christian upbringing.

​Jul’s Coffee Shop in Bucha
Here we meet Julia, one of the film’s stars, who shares her faith journey. She was raised in the Orthodox Church.

​St. Andrew’s Orthodox Church in Bucha
At this iconic church, the site of a mass grave in Bucha, we witness Father Andrey leading an outdoor Good Friday service in 2022. The following year, we join him for an underground service and interview at the church.

​Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in Vinnytsia
We visit the first church in Ukraine to formally break away from the Moscow Patriarchate to become part of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

​A Small Village Orthodox Church Outside Vinnytsia
The video concludes with a scene of a village priest showing us his Bible as he carefully puts away his vestments.

​This 6-minute video showcases some of the most poignant expressions of faith from the "Back to Bucha" film, shot in 2023 in Lviv, Kyiv, and Bucha, along with some footage from Vinnytsia captured earlier this year (2024). The film’s editor and associate producer, Amit Nepali, carefully assembled these clips from many hours of footage. He’s also a rare Nepali Christian, having been born and raised in a Christian family by converted Nepali Hindus. His father is an Anglican priest in Nepal. Amit’s selections for these clips reflect his deep connection to the footage and the unique Christian perspective he brings to the project.

And, oh yeah, he also wrote the music. 

I am excited to announce the dates for the upcoming Beyond Bucha Production Tour.

This tour will take me and my camera across Ukraine, with a particular focus on the eastern regions. As the third installment in the Trek to Bucha series, which began with a shoot in March 2022, this film aims to document the faithful and their places of worship near and at the front lines, helping to counter Russian disinformation about religious freedom in Ukraine. All dates and locales are, of course, subject to change depending upon conditions on the ground.

Warsaw - September 16-17
The first stop is Warsaw, which was also the starting point of my original trek in March 2022.
 
Kyiv - September 18-22
Kyiv is always a highlight of my trips to Ukraine. I look forward to catching up with those from the previous films before heading out to Bucha.
 
Bucha/Irpin - September 23-25
Ground zero for all three films in the series, I’ll be getting updates from those featured in the prior films.

Kharkiv - September 26-29
Kharkiv is a top stop where I plan to connect with the Evangelical church whose pastor we met in "Back to Bucha."
 
Dnipro - September 30 - October 6
Known as “Rocket City” during the Cold War, Dnipro is Ukraine’s tech hub on the Dnieper River and a center of Ukrainian Jewish life.
 
Zaporizhzhia - October 7-8
Heading south, I hope to visit the site of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which was a target of Russian shelling in the early days of the war. This site was a key reason for my original trip to Ukraine.
 
Mykolaiv/Kherson - October 9-13
Southwestward, Mykolaiv offers access to Kherson, which experienced heavy fighting early in the war and was liberated in November 2022. Both cities' proximity to the Black Sea is of strategic importance.
 
Odesa - October 14-16
Continuing west along the Black Sea coast, Odesa is a cultural gem and home to the Transfiguration Cathedral, one of the most notable targets of Russian attacks on holy sites.
 
Vinnytsia - October 17-20
On my way home, I'll return to Vinnytsia, where I spent part of my holidays earlier this year. We plan to interview clergy at the first Orthodox church in Ukraine that broke away from the Moscow Patriarchate.
 
Lviv – October 21-23
The shoot concludes in Lviv, the first city I visited in Ukraine. Home to the Ukrainian Catholic University, it was here that I reformulated my plans, which ultimately led me to Bucha as the Russians retreated in April 2022.

The journey promises to be an enlightening and powerful experience, shedding light on the resilience and faith of the Ukrainian people amid the ongoing war.

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated funds to get us to this point, especially Alex Gamota and Bear Witness, the Executive Producers of all three films in the series. Major donors also include Tony Taylor and Yaryna, as well as Robert Weiss and his generous friends. Thanks to all!
 
We are currently at just over 60% of our $42,738 funding goal for the film, so there is still much to be done to reach our target and complete the project.

Introducing our new Beyond Bucha campaign as we gear up for filming in Ukraine this summer.
Titled "Beyond Bucha – From Churches to the Front," this installment marks the third chapter in the Trek to Bucha documentary series, continuing to illuminate the inspiring resilience of Ukraine's spirit. Expanding beyond the previous locales of Lviv, Kyiv, and Bucha, this journey will now encompass Vinnytsia, Odessa, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, and the Avdiivka/Chasiv Yar regions, contingent upon prevailing conditions.

The film aims to leverage the momentum generated by the promotional campaign of "Back to Bucha," fostering a deeper understanding between America and its battling Ukrainian ally. Throughout the upcoming summer shoots, our focus will be on embedding with chaplains to capture Ukraine's heroes in prayer, while also shedding light on misinformation surrounding the state of religious groups in the country.

To support our endeavors, we're launching a comprehensive initiative, including a new deck, webpage, and reel to provide insight into our mission. 

​The new deck provides a quick presentation (4 slides) of the Beyond Bucha project and what we are striving for including what the film is about, its potential impact, ways to join the cause, and clips from the Beyond Bucha shoot from the recent holiday season. Click here to take a look.

​The new 5-minute video reel blends footage from the original Trek to Bucha (filmed in April 2022), Back to Bucha (filmed in January 2023), and glimpses from our recent Beyond Bucha shoots during the 2023/2024 holiday season. Click here to take a look.

​All of this and more is on the new BeyondBucha.com website.

​A year or so later, Paine would write another poignant piece seemingly directed at Putin:

It was actually written to General William Howe, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, while Washington and his troops were enduring the winter at Valley Forge.

The new feature length documentary is already in production and set for release in early 2025.
By Steve Richards

I am excited to unveil the new poster and webpage for Beyond Bucha - From the Churches to the Front, the third film in the Trek to Bucha series.

The original film Trek to Bucha, was shot in April 2022, just a month after Russia’s full-scale invasion shocked Ukraine – and the world. People were beginning to move back to Kyiv and Bucha after Ukraine’s early victory in the Battle of Kyiv and Russia’s retreat from Bucha. In it we meet resolute citizens – coffee shop workers, a DJ, college students, an insurance agent, hotelier, civil engineer, etc. – all forever changed and thirsting for a return to normalcy.

In January 2023 I returned to film Back to Bucha, revisiting those I met before plus women and moms who moved back to raise their children, in their own homes, in their own country. The film also features Ukraine’s diverse Christian community and a cross section of young men who were beginning to be called up.

On Christmas Day 2023 I went back again to document the 2023/2024 holiday season. Much of this footage will be included in the new film and several clips are available on BeyondBucha.com.

To finish Beyond Bucha a production tour is being planned for the summer of 2024 and will go beyond Warsaw, Lviv, Kyiv, and Bucha to include:

• Vinnytsia
• Odessa
• Kherson
• Zaporizhzhia
• Kharkiv
• Avdiivka/Chasiv Yar areas

​Over the coming weeks we will provide more information as we prepare to revisit Ukraine and finish shooting the film. By continuing to document the violence targeted upon Ukraine’s citizens and religious communities, we expect to continue to play a part in bringing their stories to light.

It’s not often that one gets to witness an actual schism unfold where it began.

​In this short video we get a quick tour of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Vinnytsia from Archdeacon Demetrios of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. This includes a visit to the undercroft which doubles as a bomb shelter, well as the meditation garden which has been used for centuries by monks and priests. Originally a Dominican monastery when founded in 1630, to say it has a fascinating history would be an understatement.

The deacon begins with an explanation that this is the first church in Ukraine that transferred from the Moscow Patriarchate to the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine. A schism brought on by the war and is at the center of the conflict in many ways. Metropolitan Simeon was one of two bishops who came from the Moscow Patriarchate in 2018 to officially consecrate the new denomination as we see in a few photos of the historic signings creating the new church. The cathedral is the center of the Eparchy of Vinnytsia of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, with Metropolitan Simeon, its bishop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfiguration_Cathedral,_Vinnytsia  

The tour ended in the sanctuary which, at the time, was being used for the funeral of one of Vinnytsia’s heroes recently killed in battle.

The fact that there are so many soldiers dying for their country necessitates the use of the cathedral for such occasions several times a week.

The role of religion in Ukraine’s war against Russia’s invasion is increasingly evident as we hear about the treatment of Protestant churches and pastors in Ukrainian occupied territory. It is an ongoing story of Russian hypocrisy and terror. Just this week USA Today published an important article all those interested should read.

It’s despicable to see how Russia’s rationale for the war has increasingly moved to the theological. Ridiculous claims of the need to “de-Nazify” Ukraine have evolved to the need for a full scale “de-Satanization” as they ramp up disinformation campaigns for their internal – and international – audiences, including the halls of the U.S. Congress.

​Nowhere is the fight more apparent than in Ukraine itself where the Orthodox Church schism between the Russian and Ukrainian churches started in earnest with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and accelerated with Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. 

All of which leaves many of the faithful in Ukraine a bit unmoored as they try to navigate changing church calendars and competing claims and loyalties of clergy and congregations. It is a dynamic and evolving situation that I plan to delve into all the more in Beyond Bucha, the third film in the Trek to Bucha series.

In this latest preview from the new film, we go into an Orthodox village church where Vinnytsia’s master blacksmith Roman created some of his best work, including the church’s steel door and candle case. We even get a tour of the inner sanctum behind the doors to the altar where we see the priest put away his robes.

If you’ve never seen the inside of an Orthodox church they are wonders to behold with religious art from floor to ceiling. Everything is ornate and divinely inspired including the vestments/clothes, the bibles, the rugs, the ceilings, etc.

​Even iconoclasts have to marvel.

In this War Artisans Put Their Art to the Side to Keep Soldiers Warm in the Trenches

Anyone following my posts from Ukraine knows that Ukrainians are a hardworking and faithful group. Today we see this in stark relief through two short videos about Vinnytsia’s master blacksmith Roman and his American apprentice Ben who we first met making “staples” to keep logs together in the trenches. Beyond Bucha - The Forge (Staples)
​
This Good Friday it seems fitting to show how the war has changed so much for the faithful in Ukraine. In this case we see how a tremendous artisan like Roman has moved from creating exquisite metal work for churches to making trench furnaces for soldiers from scrap metal.

Next, we feature Roman’s village church (Ukrainian Orthodox) where we marvel at the glorious metalwork from his Forge. It amazes me how anyone can do such things, but as I found out this is just the beginning of what they do. Or used to do anyway.

Ben Hoerber from Lake Worth Beach, FL narrates these pieces. Ben packed up his van last summer and shipped it to Belgium whereupon he drove it to Ukraine to help in any ways possible. He found Roman and the Forge and has been helping produce these furnaces and other items for front line troops ever since.

These grass roots efforts keep Ukraine in the fight and exemplify the Ukrainian Spirit. Roman and his family will be producing these items until the war is won. All at no charge, like countless Ukrainians – and their supporters - inside and outside of Ukraine. Hard work, patriotism, faith. These are also American values, of course. Religious freedom is at the heart of Ukraine’s war for independence – as it was in America’s quest for its religious freedoms going back to the Pilgrims.

Let Ukraine’s faithful remind us of who we are as we all pray together this weekend.

A Blacksmith in Vinnytsia and his American Apprentice
By Steve Richards

“Thank God for technology” is a statement that means so much in Ukraine right now. From naval drones that are helping feed the world - and Ukraine’s economy - by decimating Russia’s navy, to a blacksmith in Vinnytsia. Ukraine is a high-tech country in so many ways, and their innovations on the battlefield, using the mish mash of NATO weapons they’ve received, are schooling the west on how vulnerable Russia’s army is.

But to a blacksmith technology means something else altogether as we see in this latest short video. Here we are introduced to “The Forge” where they make “staples” to keep trenches intact. To a blacksmith and soldiers on the frontline trying to survive the winter, technology comes down to bending and putting points on small sections of rebar through sheer force. The technology? A press and a gas fire. A big improvement over old blacksmithing technology which came down to a hammer, an anvil, and a bellows like we see in old westerns.

As we see in the video, staples are produced by the hundreds by two men in close quarters surrounded by scrap metal and other tools. Work that at one time would take nine brawny guys pounding all day for the same output. By the way, this is the first bit of video – first of three from the “Forge” – that will find its way into our new documentary Beyond Bucha - the third film in the Trek to Bucha series.

Anyone who knows Ukraine knows that Ukrainians are a pretty conservative bunch by and large. Home and family are primary as is a Judeo-Christian based society dating back to St. Andrew in the 1st Century, where lore has it he preached the gospel from the banks of the Dnieper River. Almost a millennium later in 988 AD Prince Volodymyr baptized his entire Kievan Rus empire two centuries before Moscow was a speck on a map.

​So why do Christian Nationalists in the Republican Party treat Ukrainians so non-Christianly? Ukraine is largely populated by folks they would likely have a great affinity with if they knew them a little better. We have so much in common as I have tried to document in my two films since the full-scale invasion we are remembering on February 24th.

This includes the innate desire to raise their kids just like we do, with nice homes, schools, soccer fields, freedom - and peace. Moms in both countries also share an incessant fear that their children might not make it home from school in the afternoon. In Ukraine the fear is of missile/drone attacks. In the USA it’s the threat of a school shooting.

Christian Nationalists have adopted Donald Trump as their political standard bearer and have imbued him with a kind of zeal for one that is heaven sent. Like a modern-day King David they simply see an imperfect figure whose crimes are akin to David sending Bathsheba’s husband Uriah to the front lines in a battle with the Ammonites. This conveniently allows them to avoid having to noodle too hard on the well documented sexual deviancy of their candidate. Or explain it to their congregations.

Unfortunately for Ukrainians – and those concerned with the security of the free world - these same Christian Nationalists in the House of Representatives are calling the shots on Ukraine aid.

This group reads like a who’s who of those opposing Ukraine, Israel, and other foreign aid. It includes Lauren Boebert, Mo Brooks, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Louis Gohmert, the list goes on with more than half the House Republican caucus according to a 2023 report by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution. Talk about the tail wagging the proverbial tail. Only 1 in 10 Americans identify themselves with this Theo-political moniker – and yet these self-identified Christian Nationalists are the ones holding things up. Trump controls these votes, including Mike Johnson’s. This is an autocratic theocracy evolving before our eyes. Our country is losing its separation of church and state without much notice or outcry.

Putin is seen by many Christian Nationalists as worthy of their praise because of his cynical support of the Russian Orthodox Church. But then, so did Stalin once the Russian Church had its independent voice squashed and became a tool for Russian communists. It’s voice is still silent, hence the immergence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Trump sees it in his best interests to oppose Ukraine funding though it is not clear why. Ukraine has always been at the heart of his political “black box”. Going back to his first presidential campaign with the hiring of Paul Manafort, the Hunter Biden/Burisma accusations, the Mueller Report findings, his first impeachment, the list goes on.

It seems apparent that these politically motivated Christian Nationalists are veering towards a time when their churches might also lose their independent voice. It’s already happened to a large degree. Trump and the Christian Nationalists in the image of Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church? It boils down to irreligious autocrats blessed by subservient and opportunistic church leaders.

Go figure. David loved God. He wrote Psalms, fought battles, repented, and prayed for forgiveness. Can you imagine our former president doing any of these things?